YEP Says: Why our culture bid can still pay dividends for Leeds

WHATEVER THE rights and wrongs of Leeds’s bid to compete for the right to be European Capital of Culture, it seems that the City Council was right to persevere with the bid.

It also seems that Leeds was eligible and that the city was a victim of circumstance in the wake of the Brexit decision. In short, our city was penalised for the way people voted to leave the European Union.

But what shines through in our two-page coverage of the issues at the centre of the culture bid is that we have much to be confident about.

Of course, we would rather have won the culture bid, certainly we’d have liked to have been considered. It would have been a major boost for the city. But much of the work done in the build-up to the submission can still pay dividends for the city.

Leeds City Council says: “We are determined that the remarkable energy, enthusiasm and creativity which has gone into the bid over the past few years is still channelled into a celebration of the city’s communities and cultural diversity.”

That is important. Of course, what format that could take is still to be decided and will be subject to further discussions.

But we have much to be confident about and our city can continue to thrive and improve and become a beacon for culture.